Widescreen Awards: Musical Score

Cobbled together from the back catalog of American minimalist composer John Adams, the score for I Am Love feels tailored to fit this story of reignited passion. The music lends a giddy anticipation to the film's early scenes that rises to soaring heights of ecstasy and dizzying lows of uncertainty over the course of the film.

Lee Byung-woo's score for Mother is an eclectic mix of different styles. But it's the main theme, which is most effective during Bong Joon-ho's emotional punch of an ending, that stays with you. Its ingratiating guitar seems right at home on a Thank-You-Parents bus tour, but when the twang of regret kicks in, you too will be reaching for the acupuncture needles.

Taking its cues from Tchaikovsky's ballet, Clint Mansell's score for Black Swan is perfect accompaniment for the unraveling of Nina Sayer. The themes are all familiar, even if you've never seen "Swan Lake," but Mansell finds and accentuates the melodrama and terror behind the sheet music.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for The Social Network does what every good score should. It complements the emotional undercurrents of the film, sets the tempo for the plot and, most importantly, stays out the way. The first time I saw the film, I paid almost no attention to the score. It was almost as if it didn't exist. You only recognize Reznor's work if you're looking for it, but it contributes immeasurably to what Fincher was trying to accomplish.

It almost feels like cheating, calling attention to Hans Zimmer's already universally-recognizable Inception score. But there's so much more there beyond foghorn blasts that have rattled subwoofers all over the world. Despite a plot that always felt too structured (very much like a video game, right down to the "dream levels"), the film has a lot of complex emotion wrapped up in its subplot of a man coping with his own subconscious. Zimmer's score helps flesh that out, as well.

Hip-Hop Saturday Morning Cartoon

It's chock full of hip-hop music video stereotypes — the slow-mo door opening, the random close-ups, ADD cutting with dissolves, the decked-out mansion — but the looong, cartoon-ish intro to this new Nicki Minaj video is something to behold. Saturday morning awesome.

Widescreen Awards: Sound Design

Sound design tends to be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. The Oscars split it into two categories — sound editing and sound mixing — but even the experts don't seem to really understand what they're rewarding. Sound editing, as I understand it, refers to the creation of sounds from scratch. Sound mixing refers to the assembling of many different sounds into a cohesive whole. Basically, the sound editors collect the sounds and the mixers put it all together. But so often it seems to come down to which films are either the loudest or which ones are Best Picture hopefuls looking to up their nomination tally.

With the caveat that I'm not an expert in what makes good sound editing or mixing, these are — to my ears — the best "designed" soundscapes of the year, with no attention paid to the differences between editing and mixing.

Spoilers, especially for Enter the Void, follow.

For a long stretch of Enter the Void, the viewer is trapped inside the skull of its expatriate protagonist. When his blood pressure spikes, we hear the thump of his pulse. When it plummets, we hear the ringing in his ears. But even after the camera leaves Oscar's body, the impressive soundscapes aren't over. As the camera glides over clouds and through buildings, the ambient sounds of the city and the silence are ever-present, with the low rattle and hum of Thomas Bangalter's (of Daft Punk) score just beneath the surface.

There's nothing altogether unique about the sound design in Inception, but it gets points for juggling so many different types of aural input without sacrificing clarity. The dream sounds are all heightened versions of real life — hear that exploding Paris street — that immerse your ears in the action. And the score, one of the most distinct features of the film, never completely overwhelms the soundtrack. Given the power of Hans Zimmer's bass, that's a feat in itself.

From the violinist on the Harvard commons to the thundering techno music of a San Francisco nightclub, The Social Network recreates a realistically stereophonic world. But what's most impressive is how crisp screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is amid the chaos. Characters speak to, at and over each other in this film, and yet there's never any confusion about what's going on. There's an honesty to the staged conversations that would've been edited down to mush in anyone else's hands.

Widescreen Awards: Visual Effects

Now that Oscar has had his way with the wide world of cinema, it's my turn. For the next week or so, I'll be offering up what I viewed as the best performances in front, behind and inside the camera. Starting out, here are the best achievements in visual effects.

The striking visuals of Enter the Void play a very cunning game. When you're immersed within the film, all of it feels real. It's only after you think back — to the ghostly, wall-breaching camera and the soaring shots of the city — that you realize just how much trickery is involved. The real Tokyo beneath those glowing phosphorescent skies bears only passing resemblance to the one depicted here, but the film's purpose is not to present Tokyo as it really is. Nowhere seems normal when you're as detached — mentally, physically and metaphorically — as the drug-dealing protagonist Oscar is. BUF, the company behind the visual effects, has posted an impressive making-of gallery.

Inception, on the other hand, is playing a different game entirely. Dreams are fantastical shades of real life, complete with surreal, wondrous spectacles that can only be make-believe. The visual spectacles here — mirrored walls, an exploding fortress and a cascading city by the sea — are awe-inspiring. But, what separates them from other effects excesses (such as the Laws-of-Physics-defying ones in "Iron Man 2"), is that they all operate under their own strict rules of logic. It may all be a dream, but the effects here never feel like a put-on.

If anyone knows how to use CGI, it's David Fincher. All of his films have made extensive use of it, but he never goes too far. What's so impressive about a film like The Social Network (and "Zodiac," which came before it) is how transparent the effects are. Unless you've seen the FX reels or read about Fincher's exploits elsewhere, you would never know that one of the Winklevii is actually an otherworldly doppleganger, the face of one actor transposed onto the body of another. Sure, it's not as boldly impressive as the reverse aging of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," but then again this flick has 10 times the heart of that syrupy confection.

A Tale of Two Housemaids

I'm not sure how long it's been available for free on MUBI, but since it is, there's no reason not to check out the original 1960 version of "The Housemaid." It's not as sleek or as capital-L lurid as the trailer (embedded below) for Im Sang-soo's remake, but for my money there's no femme fatale quite as unhinged Myong-ja (apart, perhaps, from Ann Savage's Vera in Detour).

What makes her even creepier than your garden variety Glenn Close or Alicia Silverstone obsessive female is how unknowable the character is. She creeps around outside in the rain. She hammers away at her master's piano. She does all these unnerving things, but it's not simply a case of love gone awry. There's a fire burning in Myong-ja that goes much deeper than that of a jilted lover or fed-up outcast. Her character earns that fourth-wall shattering disclaimer that follows the proper ending of the film. Philanderers, be warned: Mess around with the housemaid at your own peril.

Here's hoping Im Sang-soo (not Lee Chang-dong, as I mistakenly wrote in a previous post) captured some measure of that mysterious quality in Jeon Do-yeon, who plays the modern-day temptress.

Top 20 Films of 2010

With the year well and truly put to rest and Oscar nominations a scant day away, now is as good a time as any to count down what I saw as the best the cinema had to offer in 2010.

First, a note on inclusiveness. As ravenously as I devour films — by my count I watched 61 last year — it's simply impossible to see them all.

I tend to avoid films I know will be horrendously bad. A high school English teacher once told me life is too short to read bad books, and I believe the same applies to the movies. My "bottom 10" list would probably include innocuously mediocre fare such as "Shutter Island" and "Ondine," as well as absurdly entertaining stuff like the South Korean disaster epic "Tidal Wave." I have no qualms about recommending any of those films to the right person in the right mood to enjoy them. (FYI: "Tidal Wave" is available on Instant Netflix. Check it out.)

Because I don't live in an urban area, there are a lot of films each year that are impossible to find. If I would have had to hop a flight out to L.A. to see the movie, it's not going to show up here. I am, after all, a broke print journalist of the ol' Chevrolet Set.

But that also means films that were seen by the tastemakers last year — and one from as far back as 2007 — are fair game. Similarly, I don't exclude direct-to-video releases or documentaries. If the film fired the right synapses, it doesn't matter how it was created or where I saw it.

In brief, 2010 presented an embarrassment of riches, ranging from surprising summer blockbusters ("Inception," "Salt") to homegrown indies ("Night Catches Us", "That Evening Sun") and what very well may be the crest of the Korean New Wave. I'm not sure if any such movement actually exists in real life, but that country has presented a plethora of talented directors in the past decade, from almost-household-names Bong Joon-ho ("Memories of Murder," "The Host" and lastyear's "Mother") and Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy") to rising workmen Lee Chang-dong (last year's "Secret Sunshine" and the forthcoming "Poetry") and Kim Ji-woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters").

Before launching into the cream of the crop, here are some honorable mentions that just missed the cut: "The American" (USA, dir. Anton Corbijn); "Carlos" (France/Germany, dir. Olivier Assayas); "Fish Tank" (UK, dir. Andrea Arnold); "Life During Wartime" (USA, dir. Todd Solondz); and "The Town" (USA, dir. Ben Affleck).

For those keeping tally, the top 20 are as follows:

20. "Triangle" (UK/Australia, dir. Christopher Smith)

19. "Cairo Time" (Canada, dir. Ruba Nadda)

18. "Black Swan" (USA, dir. Darren Aronofsky)

17. "Toy Story 3" (USA, dir. Lee Unkrich)

16. "Salt" (USA, dir. Phillip Noyce)

15. "Inception" (USA, dir. Christopher Nolan)

14. "The Chaser" (South Korea, dir. Na Hong-jin)

13. "Night Catches Us" (USA, dir. Tanya Hamilton)

12. "True Grit" (USA, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)

11. "I Am Love" (Italy, dir. Luca Guadagnino)

10. "Restrepo" (USA, dir. Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger)

9. "Splice" (Canada, dir. Vincenzo Natali)

8. "Animal Kingdom" (Australia, dir. David Michôd)

7. "A Prophet" (France, dir. Jacques Audiard)

6. "That Evening Sun" (USA, dir. Scott Teems)

5. "Secret Sunshine" (South Korea, dir. Lee Chang-dong)

4. "Enter the Void" (France/Germany/Italy, dir. Gaspar Noé)

3. "Tokyo Sonata" (Japan, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

2. "Mother" (South Korea, dir. Bong Joon-ho)

1. "The Social Network" (USA, dir. David Fincher)

My Ballot: Best Original or Song Score

It's that time of the year, when some of the best films of the year make it to my neck of the woods. Better late than never, I figured I'd resurrect In Widescreen in order to share what I think are some of the best films of 2009. I'll kick off my ballot with a nod to the composers (and other music gurus) who stirred the soul with the perfect aural accompaniment.

Nathan Johnson for The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Johnson like to keep it in the family, but it works. Nathan's variations on a simple melody -- sometimes jovial and sometimes melancholy -- match perfectly with Rian's bittersweet odyssey of a film.

Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders and John Bissell for The Hurt Locker

For once, the Academy got it right. It's easy to lose track of the musical soundscape underneath the human drama and intense visuals, but it plays an integral part of the film's suspense.

Marvin Hamlisch for The Informant!

Hamlisch's retro-tinged score serves as the glue that holds this uneven film together. Had Soderbergh been able to commit to the semi-ironic tone set by its music, the film might've been a more effective satire. Samples from this score seem to be impossible to find online.

Clint Mansell for Moon

The always-fantastic Mansell captures the emptiness of space, as well as the loneliness and paranoia of the film's protagonist. The score threatened to overwhelm the film at times, but it accurately portrays the mounting urgency of Sam Bell's situation.

Michael Giacchino for Up

Giacchino's work is always a thing of wonder. Not only does he hit all the right notes in this high-flying adventure, but he also reflects the time-burnished melancholy of Carl Fredricksen in the film's central theme, "Married Life."